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WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

reuters.com

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Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#361
post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Portugal is even a bit better, because all banks got around SIBS, which created a kind of mini-Internet with ATMs machines. So we can use our debit cards for buying tickets for trains, concerts, cinema, money transfer, paying Internet shops, charging pre-pay phones,... All without paying ATM taxes, regardless of the bank of origin. So the majority of people, if they aren't traveling abroad or buying Internet stuff…

So would bitcoin be a step back here?

A step to the side I'd say

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#362
post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Portugal is even a bit better, because all banks got around SIBS, which created a kind of mini-Internet with ATMs machines. So we can use our debit cards for buying tickets for trains, concerts, cinema, money transfer, paying Internet shops, charging pre-pay phones,... All without paying ATM taxes, regardless of the bank of origin. So the majority of people, if they aren't traveling abroad or buying Internet stuff…

So would bitcoin be a step back here?

Well, assuming that bitcoin can be tracked and deanonymized, it would. Although, all cryptocoins are a step back. There's no way they could support transactions-per-second necessary.

As much as I like cards, I also prefer paying for stuff with cash.

In Portugal it is illegal to buy an expensive computer, or high-end computer monitor, or a high-end TV with cash. Similar thing in France.

Imagine yourself throwing a dinner party in a restaurant with 10 guests and they eat and drink so much that it comes to a point where it's illegal to pay that dinner with cash. Ridiculous.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#363
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last I heard, Uber works just fine in France > And in Germany you don't know yet what's living without cash and only with a credit card. That's on the Germans (especially Berliners), rest of Europe uses cards a lot more. And I'm glad the US finally took their head out of the sand and are using Chip Cards But yeah the cookie notice is pretty much useless (and I think it's been implemented badly by websites as well). N…

The service available in France as UberX is what is known as UberBlack in the rest of the world - a black car and a professional driver (also applies to Pool). Uber in France is effectively a taxi company with an app (which is not a trivial improvement, but that's a separate discussion). This is strange because France is, philosophically, a "communist" country and sharing economy innovation is usually welcome and hap…

> [1] also claims that the Rousselet family blocked a direct rail link between CDG and central Paris (my Uber on that route last week cost 99 EUR)

Well a regular "taxi parisien" between CDG and Paris is 50 € or 55 €: https://www.g7.fr/tarifs-taxis-paris Uber is not always cheaper…

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#364
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, I agree, the EU legislates privacy to a degree that no other political entity does as far as I'm aware, but on the other hand, they often do so with poorly designed policies. As an example, I'd point to the cookie notices that appear on almost every major website, which must have absorbed, globally, many careers worth of man-hours to implement while offering virtually no real-world…

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I'm European, and I sure miss my perceived greater freedom and innovation of economical activities in the US. Things like having UBER banned for example in France or Germany completely throws me off. And in Germany you don't know yet what's living without cash and only with a credit card. And those damn cookie notices!! Because they show up in every page, everybo…

> Things like having UBER banned for example in France

You have no idea what you're speaking about, do you? Uber is not banned in France. It's being investigated for multiple suspicions of breaking the law.

> Because they show up in every page, everybody accepts the policy without questioning

Well, if people can't read a notice, I can't see how that's the fault of the EU.

> And worse for the user experience, most often the implementation of websites for those notices is dummy

So now, it's the fault of the EU regulations if websites are cheating with the law and breaking UX.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#365
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, I agree, the EU legislates privacy to a degree that no other political entity does as far as I'm aware, but on the other hand, they often do so with poorly designed policies. As an example, I'd point to the cookie notices that appear on almost every major website, which must have absorbed, globally, many careers worth of man-hours to implement while offering virtually no real-world…

I've never understood that cookie notification, there is no "I agree" so I be simply hit the popup modals x and then the back button, or sometimes if the site is particularly terrible about it. I click an ad or two

> I've never understood that cookie notification

"We are required by law to inform you that we use cookies for the nefarious purpose of tracking your online behaviour and undermining your privacy."

Hope that's clear enough now.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So would bitcoin be a step back here?

Well, assuming that bitcoin can be tracked and deanonymized, it would. Although, all cryptocoins are a step back. There's no way they could support transactions-per-second necessary. As much as I like cards, I also prefer paying for stuff with cash. In Portugal it is illegal to buy an expensive computer, or high-end computer monitor, or a high-end TV with cash. Similar thing in France. Imagine yourself throwing a din…

I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest.

It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, which in Portugal is a real issue (as in most Southern Europe countries, I'm Italian) http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/may-2016-portugal-named-....

Since, as your parent says, in Portugal cashless systems are convenient are efficient, I don't really see the issue, aside from your personal preference.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I'm European, and I sure miss my perceived greater freedom and innovation of economical activities in the US. Things like having UBER banned for example in France or Germany completely throws me off. And in Germany you don't know yet what's living without cash and only with a credit card. And those damn cookie notices!! Because they show up in every page, everybo…

> And in Germany you don't know yet what's living without cash and only with a credit card. That's because we had our own system established in 1984 (ELV, electronic direct debit based on the EC cards mentioned elsewhere). From a German point of view, a credit card is a downgrade. - The system covered all German banks (private banks, public banks = Sparkassen, credit unions) because they got their act together and se…

You think of credit cards as a way to transfer funds, but miss the "credit" part of the name.

I like having the option to to buy now and pay later at the same price point as paying right now.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#368
post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone tell me as a consumer what benefit those chips provide? It’s slower and security isn’t my problem because fraud is covered by the CC company. So I still don’t get what the benefit is or how our heads are above sand now?

It creates a healthier society in long run if people cannot spend money they don't have. Some goes for the uber decision, I think it's healthier for the job market and society in general when this kind of exploitation of employees is not possible. User experience of debit cards is just fine, I don't carry any cash, and typing a pin code is just as fast as singing your signature. And currently in the Netherlands debit…

> It creates a healthier society in long run if people cannot spend money they don't have

Ok, now explain this:

https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-debt.htm

Denmark, Holland and Norway are nobody's idea of unhealthy societies -- and households there have well over double the debt load of US households.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#369
Recently, I spoke to a guy who was working in IT department of one telco company and he told me that they did analysis on which platform (Facebook Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp) is mostly used based on number of data which flew through their infrastructure.

I think regulations of big players is what small businesses and end users can profit of, definitely.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#370
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Presumably if I bought WhatsApp, I would legally be allowed to query some database for someone's phone number if I so chose because I now own the database. It's not your data. It's your users' data. So no, you may own the database, but you do not own the data.

I don't understand how users own their own data. That doesn't make any sense. Where does that idea come from?

Photography laws are similar. I cannot just see you on the street, shove a camera in your face and take your portrait and then proceed to do whatever I want with the image. The resulting image is property of both the photographer and the subject. (Exceptions for people in the background of landscape/architecture etc and 'people of public interest' such as politicians.)
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